i know this is another one of those stupid HID posts but i assume those who care about this or is atleast interested will look.

First i'd like to clear up a few things:
Do this at your own free will cause i did the same thing. If i encounter any problems, im not gonna be bitching around cause i did it myself, it works the same way for you guys. This is almost a repost but i have pics to help those of you out.

When i first installed the OEM Acura HID's from a CL-S into my R with the USDM housings, i file'd the rim of the bulb down too much and it slipped right into the housing (More on this later ) so it wasn't secure but i had the best beam pattern with it like that because the bulb was sitting as close as possible in the inside of the housing.

1) Figure out what kinda bulb you got.
D2S bulbs ( i believe) are the ones for the projector housings.
The reason being D2R bulbs have a shield on the bulb. the Shield looks like a brownish strip across the length of the bulb thats thing and has it around the base of the actual bulb too. The strip resembles the strip on the back of a pack of matches. D2S bulbs don't have the shield on the glass.

-What do if you get the wrong bulb??-
Get the right bulb.
I ended up getting the wrong bulb so i used some fine grit sandpaper ( i was sanding with ultra fine 2500 grit sandpaper to be on the safe side ) and i removed it. After you sand it down, use some rubbing alcohol and wipe the bulb down to clean it.

I want you to take a look at the USDM housing.

2) Take out your headlights, its gonna be easier to work with.

See the black plastic ring held on by 3 phillips screws? Take that off. This will secure the bulb in the housing later.


Look at the base of the bulb, When i say the rim of the bulb, im talking about the base. PS - Don't touch the bulb or this is what happens. If you touch it on accident, use rubbing alcohol to wipe it down.

Well, see the black ring on the back of the housing that is secured by the 2 screws in the pic? Well, i trimmed it down a little bit.

Now look at this pic. See the inner most ring? Well, you want the HID bulb to fit so the rim on the HID bulb is flush against the inner ring. You want it to fit into the bigger ring but if you trim it too small so its smaller than the inner ring, the bulb will slip right into the housing. If you guys read my previous post, thats what i was talking about. You can use some sort of file or Dremel to cut the rim so its small enough to fit in the hole.


This is a better picture. The reason you do this is because if the rim of the bulb just sits against the outside ring, its sitting too far away from the inside of the housing. THe closer you get the bulb, the better the beam pattern ( as mentioned above).

JDM NON-HID headlight housings-

This is a picture of the USDM housing.

See the " shell looking part at the bottom? Well, thats the beam shield in the housing. The projector lense will flip the beam upside down so since the shield is on the bottom, this will be your beam cut off at the top of the actual beam pattern shining outwards ( so since the shield is on the bottom inside the housing, the projector will bend the light so its reversed coming out, instead of the shield on the bottom to cut light off, the actual beam shining out will cut off up top. )

Inside the JDM non HID housings, it looks like that but instead of a shield on the bottom, there's a smaller rectangular one up top too. I don't have a pic but i trust everyone's got a great imagination. What i did was i took the headlight out and i used a small screwdriver and stuck it into the housing. I took a hammer and softly punched it out. then i used a set of long needle nose plyers to reach into the housing to pull it out. Knock it out slowely, i do'nt want anyone damaging anything.


The reason for the JDM housing having the upper shield is because the bumper sticks out farther on the JDM so that takes the light off the bumper and aims it farther ahead of the car. I haven't tried it with the shield in, im thinking the light output would be limited with it in, regardless if its shining towards the bumper or not.

4) Slip the bulb into the housing so that the rim on the bulb fits into back of the headlight housing. Remember, make sure it fits into the first circle but is still big enough so it doesn't sink directly into the housing.

I used a rubber washer to put behind the bulb once the HID bulb was in the housing. The point of the washer is to hold the bulb in against the inside of the housing before you install the black plastic ring that was held on by 3 screws that you took off the back of the housing as mentioned before. When you reinstall, it goes like this.

Headlight Housing <<- HID bulb <<- Rubber washer <<- Black plastic ring

After that, Cut the low beam wire's harness off. Red is Power, black is ground. The ballast should have 2 wires coming out too. Simple, connect the red with the red, black with the black. Find a good place to mount the ballast. Thats it, plug that thing in and remember to adjust the headlight. Aim them up and farther in. After that, slowely adjust them so they are even against a wall at night. Adjust as needed. Disconnect one HID bulb to aim one at a time if you need to. It makes it easier to tell both beams apart.


This is as close as i can get to replicated an OEM-ish Beam pattern. Face it, we don't have the HID housing or the right size bulb, this is how i fixed it. Here are some old pics with teh USDM and with the JDM now. Im workin on the actual beam pattern ones.








Good luck guys.

 

ttt

 

The glare on the usdm spec front is pretty bad. The cutoff on the JDM seems more tolerable.

 

haha well done kenny
is the R with the usdm front end yours b4 you got the JDM front end?

 

nvm..i see your plates..wait, you should blur those

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nvious R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">







Good luck guys.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

You got too much glare

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by canuck-mx6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

You got too much glare





</TD></TR></TABLE>

i love the blue! what shade is it?

 

OEM HID's own. Thats as close as i can get it. I think the beam pattern does glare a lot but some of the pics were shot before i had them adjusted. I was just quick to jump onto the camera. Most DIY guys are like that. the glare's pretty bad but at this rate, i should just settle for the existing beam cause i don't wanna mess anything up.

The license plate will change, i got my vanity plate form sent in. She's garage kept and i got my fingers crossed so hopefully i get lucky and my car's left alone.

 

looks more like a camera issue.

when i take pix of my HIDs they look 10x brighter than they really are

but yea, OEM hids own all

 

I wish i had some other pics to post. No digi cam so its hard. I know there are a few guys struggling with the retro fit, im sick of seeing all the useless HID posts but ****, i hope this one helps. I think imma redo my HID's cause the beam pattern is still a little bit off compared to the OEM ones. I was next to my friends BMW the other day and god damn, the 7 series HID's own all. I don't wanna mess anything up though. ****, who knows, it might help but if not, the info might prove useful.

Im thinking about using a dremel to sand down the inner ring if the housing to try and make the bulb sit in a little closer. i think i had a good quarter inch of room left inside the housing. I think if i position the bulb closer to the shield it might yield a better beam output. ??

Should i mess with it?

 

You need Audi Powa'd lights



And mean looking projectors too with the lights off as well.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SilverB18C1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looks more like a camera issue.

when i take pix of my HIDs they look 10x brighter than they really are

but yea, OEM hids own all</TD></TR></TABLE>

simple. increase shutter speed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soup **** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

simple. increase shutter speed.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, use the exposure compensation on your camera. Most cameras will allow you to underexpose the picture by -2 stops. Use a tripod as well, as the camera needs to be steady

 

http://www.hogens.com/car/defa...x.php

Videos at the bottom of the page.

The cutoff is great. We actually had to raise the lights up to get them to go further (than the factory halogens)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tweakmeister &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The cutoff is great. We actually had to raise the lights up to get them to go further (than the factory halogens)</TD></TR></TABLE>

i had to do the same also. im surprised at how well the usdm projectors....project

these are my hids(hid on left, stock on right), camera set at -2 stops on exposure like jdm smurf teg said

 

Looks dope kenny.

You can just do mine for me.

 

Well, Let me know when you get your ITR and you can send your ride my way. Im down to do it for ya. And whatsup with teh CF lip?? I know you're gonna hook it up.

 

clean teGz!!!

 

You cannot compare HID images dead on via digital cameras.

You must compare them but light output onto a wall.

 

Visually, This is how it looks. My PY's got the Acura CL-S ones. Kicker773's got the OEM ones.








my PY and the Black USDM's have the retrofitted ones, the black JDM's got the JDM OEM's.



Here's the wall shot. His beam pattern stretches out farther than mine because the cut off is different. Light intensity in front of the car isn't off by too much.

 

so what is the problem with getting OEM hid headlights?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPOON 1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so what is the problem with getting OEM hid headlights? </TD></TR></TABLE>

expensive for the JDM conversion ones.

usually cheaper to go a.market.

 

Back from the dead.... Is it possible to use D2s headlights with ballasts that originally used d2r bulbs?

 

Nice write up. I like aftermarkets more because $$ is a factor. I was happy with my Philips HIDs.

 

looks good. does the black USDM have OEM projectors?